When I interviewed Edmund White for a newspaper profile, that supremely gifted photographer Jane Bown came along to take the pictures. In a swift stroke of impromptu genius,she turned the straggly greenery behind a London hotel patio into an antique bower, with White as a sprite – half-Puck, half-Pan – grinning out from between the leaves. If mayhem and upheaval often follow in his spirit's wake, then their passage will leave, beyond the heartbreak and bewilderment, happiness and even some hilarity behind.

The key piece of evidence that convicted Gary Dobson was a microscopic spot of blood soaked into the fabric of his distinctive jacket discovered during an exhaustive £3.8m scientific review of the case.

The man who presided over the state too crazy to fail is dead. Kim Jong-il, the pint-sized tyrant who never outgrew his khaki jumpsuits, is said to have died from a heart attack while on an inspection tour on board a train, aged 69 (or, more likely, 70).

Brighton spurned the chance to break into the Championship's top six in spectacular fashion when two players were sent off early on against Burnley at the Amex Stadium by referee Craig Pawson. Romain Vincelot saw red after six minutes when he punched Marvin Bartley in the ribs, and six minutes later Ashley Barnes was dismissed for lashing out at Chris McCann. Brighton's nine men held out for 20 minutes until a short corner saw Kieran Trippier score from the edge of the area. The Clarets won 1-0.

A tiny bloodstain found on the jacket of a man accused of murdering Stephen Lawrence could have come from the knife pulled from the teenager's body during the fatal attack by a racist gang, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

Two men accused of murdering the black teenager Stephen Lawrence in one of Britain's most notorious racist crimes 18 years ago have been implicated by new scientific advances that identified microscopic traces of his blood and fibres on their clothing, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.